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Thursday, May 1st, 2025
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

2 Samuel 17:3

since he's the one you want to get rid of. Then I'll bring the whole nation back to you like a bride coming home to her husband. This way there won't be a civil war.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ahithophel;   Citizens;   Council;   Diplomacy;   Friendship;   Malice;   Spies;   War;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Ahithophel;   Amasa;   Hushai;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Absalom;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Elder;   Family Life and Relations;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Ahithophel;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Judas Iscariot;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ahithophel;   Samuel, Books of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Ahithophel ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Absalom;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Ahith'ophel;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Text of the Old Testament;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
and bring all the people back to you. When everyone returns except the man you’re looking for, all the people will be at peace.”
Hebrew Names Version
and I will bring back all the people to you: the man whom you seek is as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in shalom.
King James Version
And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.
Lexham English Bible
Then I will return all the people to you; when all have returned, the man whom you are seeking will be dead, but all the people will be safe."
English Standard Version
and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace."
New Century Version
Then I'll bring everyone back to you. If the man you are looking for is dead, everyone else will return safely."
New English Translation
and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. The entire army will return unharmed."
Amplified Bible
and I will bring all the people [who follow David] back to you. The return of everyone depends on the [death of the] man you are seeking; then all the people will be at peace [and accept you as king]."
New American Standard Bible
and I will bring all the people back to you. The return of everyone depends on the man whom you are seeking; then all the people will be at peace."
Geneva Bible (1587)
And I will bring againe all the people vnto thee, and when all shal returne, ( the man whome thou seekest being slaine) all the people shalbe in peace.
Legacy Standard Bible
and I will cause all the people to return to you. The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at peace."
Complete Jewish Bible
Then I will bring back to you all the people; and when they have all returned, except the one you are seeking, all the people will be at peace."
Darby Translation
and I will bring back all the people to thee. The man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: all the people shall be in peace.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then I will bring all the people back to you. If David is dead, all the people will come back in peace."
George Lamsa Translation
And I will bring back all the people to you, just as those whom you sought have come back; so all the people shall be in peace.
Good News Translation
and then bring back all his men to you, like a bride returning to her husband. You want to kill only one man; the rest of the people will be safe."
Literal Translation
And I shall bring all the people back to you when all return, except the man whom you are seeking. All the people shall be in peace.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and brynge all the people vnto the agayne. So whan euery man is brought vnto the as thou desyrest, then shal all the people be in peace.
American Standard Version
and I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.
Bible in Basic English
And I will make all the people come back to you as a bride comes back to her husband: it is the life of only one man you are going after; so all the people will be at peace.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And wil bring againe all the people vnto thee: and when al shall returne, the man whom thou sekest [beyng slayne] all the people shalbe in peace.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
and I will bring back all the people unto thee; when all shall have returned, [save] the man whom thou seekest, all the people will be in peace.'
King James Version (1611)
And I wil bring backe all the people vnto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I will bring back all the people to thee, as a bride returns to her husband: only thou seekest the life of one man, and all the people shall have peace.
English Revised Version
and I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.
Berean Standard Bible
and bring all the people back to you. When everyone returns except the man you seek, all the people will be at peace."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y schal lede ayen al the puple, as o man is wont to turne ayen; for thou sekist o man, and al the puple schal be in pees.
Young's Literal Translation
and I bring back all the people unto thee -- as the turning back of the whole [is] the man whom thou art seeking -- all the people are peace.
Update Bible Version
and I will bring back all the people to you: all the people will return [if] the man you are seeking [is smitten]: all the people shall be in peace.
Webster's Bible Translation
And I will bring back all the people to thee: the man whom thou seekest [is] as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.
World English Bible
and I will bring back all the people to you: the man whom you seek is as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace.
New King James Version
Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace."
New Living Translation
and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride returns to her husband. After all, it is only one man's life that you seek. Then you will be at peace with all the people."
New Life Bible
and return all the people to you. All will return if the man you want to kill is dead. Then all the people will be at peace."
New Revised Standard
and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
that I may bring back all the people unto thee, - when all return - save the man whom thou art seeking, all the people, will be at peace.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will bring back all the people, as if they were but one man: for thou seekest but one man: and all the people shall be in peace.
Revised Standard Version
and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
and I will bring back all the people to you. The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at peace."

Contextual Overview

1 Ahithophel said to Absalom: Let me choose twelve thousand men and attack David tonight, 2 while he is tired and discouraged. He will panic, and everyone with him will run away. I won't kill anyone except David, 3 since he's the one you want to get rid of. Then I'll bring the whole nation back to you like a bride coming home to her husband. This way there won't be a civil war. 4 Absalom and all the leaders of the tribes of Israel agreed that Ahithophel had a good plan. 5 Then Absalom said, "Bring in Hushai the Archite. Let's hear what he has to say." 6 Hushai came in, and Absalom told him what Ahithophel had planned. Then Absalom said, "Should we do what he says? And if we shouldn't, can you come up with anything better?" 7 Hushai said: This time Ahithophel's advice isn't so good. 8 You know that your father and his followers are real warriors. Right now they are as fierce as a mother bear whose cubs have just been killed. Besides, your father has a lot of experience in fighting wars, and he won't be spending the night with the others. 9 He has probably already found a hiding place in a cave or somewhere else. As soon as anyone hears that some of your soldiers have been killed, everyone will think your whole army has been destroyed. 10 Then even those who are as brave as a lion will lose their courage. All Israel knows what a great warrior your father is and what brave soldiers he has.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will bring: 2 Samuel 3:21

shall be: Isaiah 48:22, Isaiah 57:21, 1 Thessalonians 5:3

Reciprocal: Judges 4:22 - and I will 2 Samuel 20:21 - his head

Cross-References

Genesis 17:17
Abraham bowed with his face to the ground and thought, "I am almost a hundred years old. How can I become a father? And Sarah is ninety. How can she have a child?" So he started laughing.
Genesis 17:18
Then he asked God, "Why not let Ishmael inherit what you have promised me?"
Genesis 17:23
On that same day Abraham obeyed God by circumcising Ishmael. Abraham was also circumcised, and so were all other men and boys in his household, including his servants and slaves. He was ninety-nine years old at the time, and his son Ishmael was thirteen.
Exodus 3:6
I am the God who was worshiped by your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Moses was afraid to look at God, and so he hid his face.
Numbers 14:5
Moses and Aaron bowed down to pray in front of the crowd.
Numbers 16:22
But the two men bowed down and prayed, "Our God, you gave these people life. Why would you punish everyone here when only one man has sinned?"
Numbers 16:45
"Stand back! I am going to wipe out these Israelites once and for all." They immediately bowed down and prayed.
Joshua 5:14
"Neither," he answered. "I am here because I am the commander of the Lord 's army." Joshua fell to his knees and bowed down to the ground. "I am your servant," he said. "Tell me what to do."
Judges 13:20
The fire blazed up toward the sky, and the Lord 's angel went up toward heaven in the fire. Manoah and his wife bowed down low when they saw what happened.
1 Kings 18:39
When the crowd saw what had happened, they all bowed down and shouted, "The Lord is God! The Lord is God!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I will bring back all the people unto thee,.... Meaning not the people only that were with David, that he would make them prisoners, and bring them with him; for he before proposed to let them make their escape; but to reduce all Israel to the obedience of Absalom at once, by executing this scheme which he had formed:

the man whom thou seekest [is] as if all returned; meaning David, whom he speaks of contemptibly, and whose life it seems Absalom sought, as well as his crown; and he being dead, it would be all over at once with the people; they would immediately return to their own habitations, and yield obedience to Absalom as the rightful heir and successor; all depended on his death, he intimates: from whence it appears that Abarbinel is wrong in suggesting that Absalom did not design to take away the life of his father, only to secure the kingdom to himself in his father's lifetime, who he understood had disposed of it by his will to Solomon; but here Ahithophel plainly declares the intention of Absalom, nor would he have proposed in plain terms to take away the king's life, had Absalom been averse to it; and it is plain by what follows that the thing was pleasing to him:

[so] all the people shall be in peace; both parties coalesce under the government of Absalom, and live peaceably under it, and so an entire end of the war.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The man whom thou seekest - namely, David. Ahithophel means to say: “If I can only smite David, there will be no civil war, all the people will peaceably submit.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 17:3. The man whom thou seekest is as if all returned — Only secure David, and all Israel will be on thy side. He is the soul of the whole; destroy him, and all the rest will submit.


 
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